Van spent hours on air last week -- reacting to tragedy after tragedy live. His words speak for themselves:

"We need to reach down and find some empathy. If you cried for the brother who bled out next to his fiancé but you didn't cry this morning for those police officers, it is time to do a heart check. If you cried for those police officers but have a hard time taking seriously all these videos coming out with these African-Americans dying, it is time to do a heart check. Because a country -- we are either going to come together or come apart now. There is enough pain on both sides there should be some empathy starting to kick in."

America is supposed to be about liberty and justice for ALL -- not just those who can afford it!

Instead, big money has been buying off our democracy bit by bit for years. Wall Street pumped more than $200 million into the 2012 elections. Candidates spend up to 70 percent of their time “dialing for dollars.” No wonder our leaders lose touch with everyday people!

It’s nothing more than legalized bribery. The worst of the 1% rig the game so they come out as winners, and the rest of us can’t help but lose. It’s the reason no bankers have gone to jail, students are drowning in debt, a day’s work barely pays the bill and Washington is talking about making climate change even worse by approving the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline.

We need a government that’s of, by, and for the people - not bought and paid for by special interests!

For students just entering college, it must be a stressful time. In addition to adjusting to their new surroundings, many are also probably wondering how they will afford to pay for it once they graduate.

It seems like everyday we hear of new statistics about the cost of college and the ever-increasing amount of money students have to borrow to attend college today. This spring, it was reported that the average student debt for 2014 graduates is an astounding, $33,000. This amount is nearly double what borrowers had to repay 20 years ago, even after adjusting for inflation.

The student debt crisis is not just impacting lower-income students either. Earlier this month, the Pew Research Center released data showing that the largest increase in borrowing over the last 20 years has actually been among the more affluent students.

For reasons such as these, this Tuesday, October 14, George Washington University will host “Taking On the Student Debt Crisis," an event combining performance, discussion and activism in an effort to increase the dialogue about our country's student debt crisis. This free event will feature a moderated discussion with CNN’s Van Jones as well as the performance of Aaron Calafato's monologue, For Profit.

In addition to co-hosting CNN's Crossfire, Van Jones is also President/co-founder of Rebuild the Dream, an organization that champions innovative solutions to fix the U.S. economy. One issue the organization has focused a great deal of attention on, is the student debt crisis. Calafato has performed his play, For Profit, at more than 100 college campuses and community events across the country.

Calafato's play chronicles his experiences working as an admissions counselor at a for-profit college as well as the predatory nature of his former work.

Event Details:

Where: Marvin Center Amphitheater, Third floor

When: October 14th, 7:30 pm

Presented by Rebuild The Dream, GW Not For Profit, the Student Association at The George Washington University (SA) and GW College Democrats

In cities across America, local law enforcement units too often treat low-income neighborhoods populated by African Americans and Latinos as if they are military combat zones instead of communities where people strive to live, learn, work, play and pray in peace and harmony. Youth of color, black boys and men especially, who should be growing up in supportive, affirming environments are instead presumed to be criminals and relentlessly subjected to aggressive police tactics that result in unnecessary fear, arrests, injuries, and deaths.

Michael Brown, an unarmed African American teen shot multiple times and killed by a Ferguson, Mo police officer, is only the latest in a long list of black men and boys who have died under eerily similar circumstances. Investigations into the Ferguson shooting are ongoing, and many of the specific facts remain unclear for now. However, the pattern is too obvious to be a coincidence and too frequent to be a mistake. From policing to adjudication and incarceration, it is time for the country to counter the effects of systemic racial bias, which impairs the perceptions, judgment, and behavior of too many of our law enforcement personnel and obstructs the ability of our police departments and criminal justice institutions to protect and serve all communities in a fair and just manner.

In addition, the militarization of police departments across the country is creating conditions that will further erode the trust that should exist between residents and the police who serve them. The proliferation of machine guns, silencers, armored vehicles and aircraft, and camouflage in local law enforcement units does not bode well for police- community relations, the future of our cities, or our country.

And surely neither systemic racial bias nor police department militarization serves the interests of the countless police officers who bravely place their lives at risk every day.

In light of these dangerous trends, we, the undersigned, call on the Administration to pursue the following actions:

Training: Racial bias is real. Whether implicit or explicit, it influences perceptions and behaviors and can be deadly. Law enforcement personnel in every department in the country, under guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), should be required to undergo racial bias training as a part of ongoing professional development and training.

Accountability: Police departments should not be solely responsible for investigating themselves. These departments are funded by the public and should be accountable to the public. Enforceable accountability measures must be either established or reexamined for impartiality in circumstances where police shoot unarmed victims. DOJ must set and implement national standards of investigation that are democratic (involving independent review boards broadly representative of the community served), transparent, and enforceable.

Diversity: Police department personnel should be representative of the communities they serve. Police departments must adopt personnel practices that result in the hiring and retention of diverse law enforcement professionals. Using diversity best practices established in other sectors, DOJ must set, implement, and monitor diversity hiring and retention guidelines for local police departments.

Engagement: Too often law enforcement personnel hold stereotypes about black and brown youth and vice versa. Lack of familiarity breeds lack of understanding and increased opportunities for conflict. Police departments must break through stereotypes and bias by

identifying regular opportunities for constructive and quality engagement with youth living in the communities they serve. The Administration can authorize support for youth engagement activity under existing youth grants issued by DOJ.

Demilitarization: Deterring crime and protecting communities should not involve military weaponry. Effective policing strategies and community relationships will not be advanced if police departments continue to act as an occupying force in neighborhoods. The

Administration must suspend programs that transfer military equipment into the hands of local police departments and create guidelines that regulate and monitor the use of military equipment that has already been distributed.

Examination and Change: It is possible to create police departments that respect, serve and protect all people in the community regardless of age, race, ethnicity, national origin, physical and mental ability, gender, faith, or class. The Administration must quickly establish a national commission to review existing police policies and practices and identify the best policies and practices that can prevent more Fergusons and vastly improve policing in communities across the nation.

Oversight: If somebody isn’t tasked with ensuring the implementation of equitable policing in cities across the country, then no one will do the job. The Administration must appoint a federal Czar, housed in the U.S. Department of Justice, who is specifically tasked with promoting the professionalization of local law enforcement, monitoring egregious law enforcement activities, and adjudicating suspicious actions of local law enforcement agencies that receive federal funding.